There is known in the prior art casino card games where one or more players assemble hands of cards and compete against a hand representing a dealer's hand. One of the most common and popular such games is the game of Blackjack, sometimes referred to as “21.” In a live Blackjack card game, each player makes a wager and the dealer deals two cards to each player to define an initial holding and two cards to himself defining a dealer's initial holding. The cards may be dealt from a single, standard deck of fifty-two playing cards, or from a “shoe” containing multiple decks of cards. The cards to the player(s) may be dealt face up or face down. For the dealer, in the traditional game, one of the dealer's cards in his initial holding is turned face up, which is often referred to as the “up” card, and the other card is dealt face down, which is often referred to as the “hole” card (in some European casinos the dealer will not-deal himself a hole card until all players have completed their hands). Each player, in turn, has the opportunity to complete their hand in a manner well known in the art. The object of the game is for the player to assemble a final hand which (1) has a higher count value than the dealer's final hand without the value exceeding a predetermined target value which, in traditional Blackjack, is 21. In this regard each player may exercise the following options:                1. To stand on the value of the initial holding making the initial holding the player's final holding;        2. Being dealt additional cards (taking “hits”) to try to achieve or come close to the target value;        3. To “double down” (double their initial wager), which may be made, according to the casino's rules, sometimes only available when the count of the initial player hand is 10 or 11;        4. To split card pairs of the initial holding into two hands and play each hand separately;        5. To “surrender” their hand by giving up half their wager (this may not be permitted by some casino rules or only permitted when the dealer has a certain value of the exposed card); and/or.        
6. Take insurance by wagering an amount equal to their game wager and if the dealer has a “Blackjack” or “natural” (initial holding composed of an Ace and a ten-value card), the player wins 2:1 and therefore, basically, does not win or lose.
As stated above the rules of traditional Blackjack regarding the player's actions are well known in the art.
Once the players have completed their hands, the dealer does as well by taking hits or standing according to the house rules. A variation included in those rules is that the dealer may be required to stand on a “soft 17”(i.e., a hand count of 17 including an Ace which counts as a 1 or an 11). Other rules require the dealer to hit a soft 17.
If the player exceeds the target value of “21” they, lose their wager regardless of whether the dealer also exceeds the target value. This is because the players complete their hands first. If the player's hand does not exceed the target value and (1) his hand has a value exceeding the dealer or (2) the dealer exceeds the target value, the player wins and is paid 1:1 on their game wager. If 1.5 the dealer does not exceed the target value and his hand has a greater value than the player's final hand, the player loses their wager. If the player's and the dealer's final hand values are the same, it is a tie (or “push”) and the player neither wins nor loses.
In traditional Blackjack the hand values are based upon a card valuing schedule as follows:
CardValueAce1 or 11K, Q, J, 10102-9card value
It has also been known to program a computer for a player to play the game against the computer. Hand held, electronic, Blackjack game devices have also been known.
In what many consider to be a drawback with traditional Blackjack, the most the player can win is a 3:2 award based on their game wager which occurs when the player has a natural and the dealer does not have a natural. Recently some casinos have reduced the award to 6:5. Thus there is no offering for the player to win a greater amount.
Another Blackjack-style game is known as “Spanish 21” where all the “10s” are removed from the deck. The game plays like blackjack although the odds are slightly worse for the player due to the removal of the 10s.
Yet another Blackjack-style game is known as “No Bust 21” or “21st Century Blackjack” where no hands can “bust.” If the player hand goes over 21, instead of losing their wager immediately as in traditional Blackjack, the player's is wager stays until the dealer plays out his hand. Unless the dealer hand also goes over 21 and is closer to 21 than is the player hand, the player won't lose the wager.
Some Blackjack-style games have been adopted and played which provide for a side (“bonus”) wager that (1) the dealer will have a Blackjack, (2) the dealer's hand will have a certain combination of cards such as suited Queens, or (3) the dealer will take a certain number of hits, or (4) the dealer will bust.
In Griffiths, U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,579, there is disclosed a Blackjack side wager “21 or over”. The player making this side wager is betting that the dealer will either bust or achieve exactly a hand count of 21 with 3 or more cards. When the dealer has either busted or achieved an exact hand count of 21, the player is paid according to predetermined odds of 1:1, 3:2 or 2:1. One drawback to this wager is the low payoff odds which limit the attractiveness of the game. There are many Blackjack side wagers that pay much higher odds such as a game known as Lucky Ladies where the top payoff odds are 1000:1 if the player has a hand of Queens of the same suit. Thus “21 or over” won't be enticing, exciting enough for the players. The reason “21 or over” cannot pay odds more than 2:1 is that its hit frequency (probability of the occurrence during play) of 36% is too high. In a “Blackjack game dealt from 6 decks with the “dealer hits a soft 17” rule, a dealer will bust 28.58% of his hands and achieve a count of 21 7.49% of the time. Since the odds are only 1.78:1 against winning a bet with a hit frequency of 36%, there is no way the casino can pay odds higher than 1.78:1, and even with a dealer hand count of 21 being a push, 2.24:1 would be the highest odds the casino can pay without incurring a loss.
In Keller, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,575, there are disclosed a number of side wagers, one of which allows the player to bet that the dealer will go bust. When the dealer busts, the player is paid at 5:2 (i.e., 2.5:1) odds. Again, like 21 or over”, the payoff odds for the side wager are unattractive. Furthermore, since the odds against the dealer going bust are only 2.499:1, the casino won't have an advantage if the side wager is paid 2.5:1. Thus the casino would not have a profit motive for hosting a game with such a side wager.
In Forte, U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,998, there is disclosed a side wager that rewards the player if the number of consecutive dealer bust hands has exceeded a predetermined dealer bust event threshold of 5. The drawback to such a wager is that it not only requires additional equipment such as electronic displays and counters to tally the dealer bust event for every player, but once the dealer starts to bust, the player has to stay and continue to play until the dealer either stops busting or reaches the predetermined threshold. Hence side wagers that cannot be resolved in one single hand or round of play require more supervision and cause inconveniences for the players. Further, because new players may enter the game during the dealer busting sequence, maintaining the tally for each player is difficult and likely to lead to disputes.
In Vancura, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,917, there is disclosed a side wager for the player to make in addition to their base game wager in Blackjack. According to this patent, in one embodiment, the player may make a side wager based upon the number of “hits” the player will take in completing their hand. They are paid for their side wager according to one of several suggested pay tables. One drawback to this game embodiment is that the side wager is either fixed, a percentage of the base wager, or confined within strict limits to counteract the effect of an advantage obtained by professional card counters. When the outcome of a side wager depends on the base wager or is confined within limits determined by the possible effects of card counting (optimal advantage play by a card counter to beat the game) in a game where skill can impact the frequency and amount won such as Blackjack, most players will, in regard to the side wager, lose more than they should. The strategy for this side wager will presumably comprise a set of 2- to N-card strategies, where N equals the maximum winning number of successful hits minus 1 and each multi-card strategy is a matrix composed of “hit or stand” rules based on the player's current hand total of 12 through 20 versus the ten dealer up cards for a total of 90 rules times (N×2)! Furthermore, since the base wager and the side wager are paid at different odds, the optimal strategy will vary with the ratio of the base wager to to the side wager, thereby necessitating memorizing many more strategy deviations if the player wants to vary their wager size, which they often do. Thus the size of the side wager had better be a fixed amount or fraction of the base wager as stated in his claims 20 to 23.
Another embodiment described in Vancura is that the player may make one or more side wagers where he/she is attempting to predict the exact number of hits the dealer or player will take. If the player incorrectly predicts the exact number, e.g., the player wagers on two hits and the dealer only takes no hits, one hit or three or more hits, the player loses their side wager. There are several drawbacks to this side wager. First, the player must accurately and precisely predict the number of the dealer hits. If he does not so predict, the player loses their side wager. Second, the outcome of the side wager is also dependent upon the player hand. For the side wager where the player is predicting the number of dealer hits, exact prediction is required for the player to win their side wager. For the side wager on the number of player hits there is disclosed an “over” wager, i.e. three or more hits. Second, the outcome of the side wager is also dependent upon the player hand. Also, according to certain disclosed embodiments, if the player receives a natural (Blackjack), the side wager is a push. This means the player won't have a chance to win the bet an additional 4.7% of the time (the statistical frequency of player Blackjack(s)). Also, the side wager either pushes or loses if the player exercises one of such options as surrender, double down and splitting. This further deprives the player of their chances to win the side wager an additional 12% of the time. The requirement to precisely predict the dealer's hits and the dependency of the outcome of the side wager on the player hand reduce the frequency that the player will win their side wager. If players do win or see other side wagers won relatively frequently, they may abandon the game or at least the side wager. Further, since precise prediction is required for side wagers based on the dealer's hand, players may become frustrated by infrequent wins of the side wager. As for wagers on the player's hand, often the player will be put into a situation where they must choose between winning their base wager and trying to win their side wager. This creates a stressful situation which may cause casual players to shun the side wager altogether. It is further noted that limiting the side the side wager to ⅕ of the base game wager not only reduces both the excitement and betting action for the player and the revenue for the casino, but it also creates difficulties in calculating the exact bet amount for the player and in calculating and making the payment for the dealer as well when the bet amount is not a multiple of 5. Imagine a player making a base wager of $17.
Hence there is a need for a game which:                1. does not require an accurate, precise, prediction of the number of hits taken by the dealer to complete their hand;        2. does not restrict the size of the side wager;        3. does not depend upon the play of the player hand for adjudicating the side wager;        4. is not tied to the base wager;        5. pays handsome awards when the player wins;        6. can provide a trigger event which increases the players side wager award; and        7. is configured to provide an acceptable advantage for the casino.        